Adopting a Beagle?

[mark]

Wife's co-worker is offering her 5 year old Beagle as will be heading out on a extended holiday, plus finding when around, not all that much time for it.

Concerns I have though, although told it's a great dog, if it has any bad habits, might be difficult to check with a 5 year old Beagle, second is our situation; there are times between the wife's and my work plus the and kid in school, dog would be on it's own for ~8 hours. No other pets.

Thoughts?

[BlueAbyss]

Hmm a beagle by himself for 8 hours is asking for trouble. The words 'abandonment issues' comes to mind

[megs_clark]

Hi. Beagles are awsome family dogs. Their super smart. Fun to have around. We have a 3 yr old Beagle. Things to keep in mind. You need a fenced yard in my opinion. They are extreamly active dogs that follow their noses. We have a fully fenced yard and still wound up buying a invisable electric fence. After googling this seems to be common with them. They love company. Our dog follows us around the house everywhere. If we leave him in the house when i go to the grocery store by the time i get home he is going nuts. I leave him outside when i go out now other wise my blinds are on the floor and paper is shreaded when i get home. If i leave him outside where he can run around he doesnt seem to mind when i go out. So its something to keep in mind if you are working all day. Because their active they need alot of outside time to play, ours goes out quite a bit. And food is a big thing with them. I read most Beagles have food aggresion. Though ours doesnt at all. Something you might want to ask about. Our dog if we have food on the table and leave the room for a second he will get it. Iv never been able to break him of that. Its the following their nose thing. I think the only time he misbehaves is when his nose kicks in. He almost tunes us out if he is sniffing a scent, its odd to watch but if our yard want fenced it would be next to impossible to keep in in the yard when he thinks he smells something. The plus side they are super loyal, great with kids, loving and smart.

[Aquattro]

If he's crate trained, not really an issue. If not, ya, 8 hours is a lot of time to lounge around eating furniture. 5 yrs old is still plenty young to re-train something if needed.

[megs_clark]

I just thought id mention, our Beagle is crate trained. But theirs a limit on how long he can be in their before going nuts, lol. And 8 hours would by far be exceeding that with a Beagle i think. They really are high energy dogs.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by megs_clark

I just thought id mention, our Beagle is crate trained. But theirs a limit on how long he can be in their before going nuts, lol. And 8 hours would by far be exceeding that with a Beagle i think. They really are high energy dogs.

I think as long as you wear them out before hand, an occaisional long term nap might be possible.
Another option for those times you have to leave for a full day, doggy day care.

[mark]

Going to have to think on this a bit more as a bit bothered on the idea of leaving it.

Live in Edmonton so not sure how humane it would be to leave the dog out even with a heated shelter (dog house) over winter while we are at work. As for being crate trained (new lingo for me) not sure but will ask. All I got from the wife is the people have been leaving the dog in their basement when they are out. Guess might be able to leave it in the basement fishroom, just wouldn't want it defecating there.

Dog daycare, here we went with the live-in nanny when the kid was younger to avoid daycare, seems strange to consider daycare again for a dog.

[fishoholic]

I know a few doggy daycares that are pretty good if you're interested in that route, the idea of doggy daycare is that the dogs gets it's energy out at daycare instead of taking it out on your carpets/furniture etc.

My dogs are left for 9-10 hours (WOW when I did the math, I leave for work around 8am and get back home around 6pm, I hadn't realized it was that long I was leaving them for ) but that being said they are usually pretty good. However if I leave anything on the table within their reach, forget to hide my pillows under the blanket, leave shoes out etc. it's basically considered fair game and it will be ripped up/destroyed by the time I get home.

When we just had the one dog (Oreo) she would pretty much always find something to destroy on a daily basis from being left alone for so long. After we got our other dogs it helped a lot, for the most part they keep each other company. It also helps to walk them everyday, I know when I miss taking them for a walk they usually will find something (mostly paper ie: fliers left on the table) to rip up.

Most dogs, as long as they are potty trained, will not mess in the house and will hold it for up to 10 hours before they would defecate inside the house.

As for crate training I think 8 hours is too long to leave a dog in a create for on a regular basis and you are right, with Edmonton weather, leaving a dog outside for an extended period of time (especially a short hair dog) is a bad idea.

This is just my experiences and my opinion but I hope it helps. Feel free to pm me or call me etc. if you have any questions, and I'll try to help answer them.

[Leah]

I would be leary of the fact that they leave the dog in the basement.
Dogs are great, but a huge responsibilty.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by Aquattro

If he's crate trained, not really an issue. If not, ya, 8 hours is a lot of time to lounge around eating furniture. 5 yrs old is still plenty young to re-train something if needed.

Originally Posted by megs_clark

I just thought id mention, our Beagle is crate trained. But theirs a limit on how long he can be in their before going nuts, lol. And 8 hours would by far be exceeding that with a Beagle i think. They really are high energy dogs.

If you need to put a dog in a box for any length of time to keep it from chewing things up, then you shouldnt have a dog IMO. Putting a dog in a box is not responsible pet ownership. Way too many people own dogs that probably shouldnt.